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The Beyerdynamic Byron recently made a solid play to become the best budget earphone around. The Beyerdynamic Byron BT are the wireless version, and they too make a great impact in their own wireless niche, particularly given their reasonable price.

Sound quality is a little different to the standard Byron pair, with significantly greater presence in the treble and upper mids. As such, they’re the more insightful, if also slightly less forgiving, set.

Build and comfort

The Beyerdynamic Byron BT are normal, wireless in-ear headphones. They’re not buds-only like the Apple AirPods, and don’t use a chunky neckband like the Sennheiser Momentum In-ear Wireless.

A cable joins up the two earpieces, but they’re otherwise very slight. Only a remote housing bulks up the cable, and that weighs just a few grams.

And don’t assume that just because their names are almost identical the Byron and Byron BTs are twins. The Beyerdynamic Byron BT earpieces are aluminium and feel like they could take some rough treatment.

There are also magnets on the back of each, making them stick together around your neck when not in use, like a tiny little gadget scarf.

If you want a more secure fit, perhaps for running, you can attach a little in-ear hook as well as a pair of silicone tips.

This is just an extra bit of rubbery scaffolding to avoid you accidentally pulling the pair out. Four pairs of tips are included, as well as a simple pouch. Beyerdynamic hasn’t piled too much of the budget into accessories.

The tech features focus on sound quality rather than fluff, too. There’s no NFC and the Bluetooth chipset is a 4.1 model rather than the newer 4.2 kind, but there is aptX, the higher-quality codec. Beyerdynamic also makes a Bluetooth 4.2 alternative pair called the Byron BTA, but the price is far higher at £150.

Given the Beyerdynamic Byron BTs are fairly slight outside of the inoffensive extended earpieces, the 7.5 hours battery life is impressive.

You recharge them using the microUSB port on the remote housing, which is covered by a little rubber flap when not in use.

More after the break

Sound

The sound of the Beyerdynamic Byron BT is a little more ambitious than the wired Byron. Where the wired version is somewhat similar to the sound of the SoundMagic E10, with great detail for its price, the Byron BTs are brighter.

Bass has been tamed a little without throwing away any impact, and the presence of the upper mids and highs are significantly more pronounced. The result is a sound that seems to have had the excess fat cut out. Its definition is increased, but they also sound a little more brittle with certain tunes.

The treble is not flat-out harsh or excessively sibilant, but there’s a certain subtlety missing from the wireless Byrons that won’t please everyone. A focus on the higher mids makes vocals appear forward and give them a slightly cooler tone.

The difference between the two pairs is marked, and Beyerdynamic’s aim seems to be to introduce a little more of the zest of a high-end earphone to match the higher price.

With most songs, the effect is a net positive, but it also makes the Beyerdynamic Byron BT less of a safe bet if you are particularly sensitive to peaks in the treble and high mids. They’re ambitious, but would perhaps benefit from cooling their jets just a bit to make them an easier listen.

However, these are still good wireless headphones for the money. They couple excellent definition with powerful-but-balanced bass, just as Beyerdynamic promises.

Verdict

The Beyerdynamic Byron BTs are very ambitious wireless earphones, attempting to level-up the sound of the standard Byron pair with better-controlled bass and significantly increased definition.

They demand more from your ears, though, and their treble skirts quite close to harshness. They're a good pair, but not quite the class-leaders we were hoping for.